Measure for Measure Marriage Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Act.Scene.Line). Line numbers correspond to the Riverside edition.

Quote #4

This being granted in course,--and now followsall,--we shall advise this wronged maid to stead upyour appointment, go in your place; if the encounteracknowledge itself hereafter, it may compel him toher recompense: and here, by this, is your brothersaved, your honour untainted, the poor Marianaadvantaged, and the corrupt deputy scaled. (3.1.12)

When the Duke devises a bed trick (when one sexual partner is secretly substituted for another) that will deceive Angelo into having sex with Mariana, he reasons that, once Angelo sleeps with his ex-fiancé, he'll have to marry her.

This literary devise is a favorite of Shakespeare's, who also uses it in All's Well That Ends Well, where Bertram is duped into sleeping with Helena. In both Measure for Measure and All's Well, the bed trick is geared toward securing heterosexual marriage.

Quote #5

My lord, this is one Lucio's information against me.Mistress Kate Keepdown was with child by him in theduke's time; he promised her marriage: his childis a year and a quarter old, come Philip and Jacob:I have kept it myself; and see how he goes about to abuse me! (3.2.2)

Here, we learn that Lucio has jilted Kate Keepdown, the mother of his child. Why did Lucio break his promise to marry Kate? Keep reading....

Quote #6

I beseech your highness, do not marry me to a whore.Your highness said even now, I made you a duke:good my lord, do not recompense me in making me a cuckold. (5.1.29)

Lucio declares that marrying a prostitute is a fate worse than torture because being hitched to a promiscuous woman will make him a "cuckold" (a man cheated on by his wife). (Apparently, it's OK for him to have sex with Kate, but Lucio wouldn't deign to marry her.) Lucio feels that marriage to a "whore" will compromise his masculinity and destroy his life.